Carbon
by mjpc26
Summary: This is the story that follows Jason, a young student at Central City University, who was affected by the particle accelerator.
1. Tonight

March 10, 2015.  
He looked at himself in the mirror, the sun was going down but he could still see what they had created. His hair, normally more poofy and shaggier was gelled down strongly, making him look more bald as the shadows grew on the walls. His green eyes were hidden under the red goggles he had on. His roommate's steampunk goggles, slightly altered to help with visibility in the dark. He black sleeveless hoodie slowly blended in with the background. Black sweat pants with his sneakers that he spray painted black. He was going to do this, he was going to be a Superhero.

"Tonight is the Night. Tonight is the Night." He began chanting to himself. He was psyching himself up and as he walked to his bong at the end of of his room he put on his playlist. Kansas's _Carry on my Wayward Son_ began playing in his room. He put his goggles on his forehead and turned on the light. He picked up his bong and lit the lime green bud with a purple vein tracing to the core. The ceramic piece began glowing red with a burning ember. As he he inhaled, every doubt he had regarding going out tonight left him with his exhale. He was ready, and he left his room, walking to his roommate, Josh. He opened the door while knocking it as well.

"We ready for Tonight?" He spoke with a shaky confidence.

" I can tell by your jams that you are. I got everything set up. In your belt is a tracking device, like the ones on a phone, so I can track where you are on the computer. On my other desktop I a scanner for crime, metas, and The Flash. Here's your earpiece." Josh handed the ear piece to his lengthy friend. While showing him his makeshift command center.

As he put his ear piece into a comfortable position he slapped himself in the chest. Looked at Josh and slapped him on the chest creating a an echoing boom.

"Sorry" he spoke with a excited smile. "I'm just too fucking exciting."

"Then let's get started" Josh replied while rubbing his now sore chest.

Josh friend in black opened the door leading to a balcony. He took a deep breath and crouched down, almost squatting. With a small concentration, his arms began changing color, as if a layer of liquid rubber was spreading on just the outside of his skin. It was black but rough, it looked like his arms had a blackish grey layer of steel. As he rubbed his fingers together, now with the dark outer epidermis layer he could hear the sound of graphite rubbing.

"Test. Test." He could hear Josh's voice both in his ear and from the room. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. Voice check is clear, can you hear me? See me on the computer?" The man in black asked his smart friend.

"We are clear. Flag Point can see you and communication is clear" Josh spoke with a slow deep voice. "Knock em' out!"

He grabbed his hoodie and threw it over his head now giving vision to a symbol on his back. The light purple circle with two purple rings surrounding it; the inner ring had two purple spheres on the track while the outer ring had four.. The atomic structure symbol of the sixth element on the periodic table of elements: Carbon.

"Carbon clear with Flag Point. Heading out" Carbon took a deep breath and extended his crouching legs in a forceful blast and he shot himself into the air.

He landed almost two blocks away and as he landed he rolled off and began sprinting towards downtown. Central City's ghetto, The Black Corner, had always been known to have problems but only recently did metas also become an issue.

"Carbon, a 7-11 is being robbed about 2 miles away; take a right at La Santa and then another right on Parker's Drive.. No police in the vicinity, you're closest as I can tell. You got this big shot" Flag Point declared in a cock manner. "I'm accessing the 7-11's security feed, it won't be great but at least I got eyes on the situation. I should be in by the time you get there but hurry your ass up.

"I'm moving!" He spoke as he made a sharp right turn and continued his sprint. Within three minutes he made it to the 7-11. "I'm here. Do I have eyes in the sky?"

"Yes. I am in. Not total vision but there appears to be two men inside robbing the manager and there is either a weird shaped pile of trash or another person outside.

"I got you. I'm going in!" Carbon sprinted forward and just as he got to the door he jumped through. He moved through the glass door as if there was nothing there and before the man with the gun looking at the cashier noticed the dark phantom phasing through the door noticed he was hit. Carbon landed and was on the man in seconds. His hand covered with the dense dark coat turned into a fist and made contact with the first robber's face. The robber made it full air bound with Carbon's fist still on his cheek, pushing down and down and suddenly the criminal hit the ground with a loud thud. Unconscious and bleeding from the nose and mouth, Carbon looked up trying to find the second 7-11 antagonist. Suddenly in his peripheral vision he saw a crowbar gaining speed and aimed towards his head. The second robber swung with a full force swing against Carbon's head only to be stopped. The man felt the echoing vibrations connect to his hands making him drop the metallic tool, as if hitting a baseball with an aluminum bat and no gloves. Carbon turned his head slowly, adding for a dramatic effect, and looked at the criminal in his eyes although his were hidden by the red tint of his goggles. He clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it to the man's abdomen causing him to throw up and collapse to the ground in pain. Carbon kicked the man in the chest causing him to topple over and he walked to him. Grabbing his collar he softly punched the man in the head causing the other criminal to lose conscious He grabbed some zip ties from his belt that Josh made, he tied up the two robbers. He then saw the back door of the 7-11 open and close quickly.

"Flag Point. Make sure police are on their way, I think you were right. There is one more outside, i'm getting him." He began a pursue towards the back door, opening and as he began looking outside he heard it. THe cock of a shotgun which he saw pointed right at his head.

Josh could see it on his computer, the 7-11's security feed was low quality and black and white but he could see it. The flash of a gun going off and he knew where it was pointed. A direct head shot. He heard it too, a loud boom followed by radio static.

"Carbon?" Josh asked into his microphone. "Carbon!" His voice cracked as he yelled. He saw the man with the shot gun look down at what was on the floor and he ran away. He could see on his computer that the police were near, he could even see the flashing lights in the video bottom lip trembling, form the sudden fear and realization of what might have just happened. "Jason!?" Josh yelled again, desperate.

...


	2. The Day Central City Changed

Jason was rolling a joint in boredom, waiting on his best friend and roommate to finish up his engineering project. His friend, Josh, was a double major in computer science and engineering at one of the top science schools in the states. Jason on the other hand, was a communication major with a minor in finance. They were roommates by chance when they both lived on campus their freshman year, but they ended up becoming great friends and have been living together up to their junior year. Jason had finished his exams already, his were not too difficult. However, this was Josh's last big project and Jason promised to keep him company in the ghost town of a lab.

"Jesus. If I knew you were going to take this long I wouldn't have kept you company." He licked the joints paper and looked out the window. "Fuck! Its looking like a storm now, so we're going to get soaked walking back to the car you know?"

Josh looked up from his table to look at his friend. "Well, some of us chose real majors, and when that happens we need to put a little more work in okay buddy?" A high sarcastic emphasis on the buddy, Josh also added "Also, make sure you're rolling both joints with the different strains."

"You got it Kidd-" Jason's sarcastic reply was cut off by the shaking of the building and a very loud boom from outside. His paper and weed fell to the ground as suddenly more and more crashes continued outside, like lighting was dropping instead of rain. The building kept shaking, mounted TVs and other equipment began shaking more and falling to the ground, shattering. Jason was silent though, he just saw a strange blur of light coming from the window. Slowly getting brighter. Getting bigger. He snapped himself out of his awe and grabbed Josh by the collar who was also dumbstruck by the light. "We need to leave now!" Jason said loudly to his friend as they began running.

They left the lab and began running down the hall, lights were flashing in the dark, the electricity was out. The booms were getting louder, the building was shaking more and more and there was glass everywhere. They were shaken internally, they lost sense of direction and began getting confused of where they were, in their own school.

"Ground Level." Josh finally said. "We need to get to the ground level, safest place during an earthquake right?"

They could both tell this was no ordinary earthquake but Jason had no better suggestions. Jason took a deep breath to organize his thoughts, and grabbed Josh's wrist to follow him. The stairs were just around the corner. They both sprinted down the stairs trying to get to the bottom floor. They made it to the bottom floor but just as Jason tried to open the door he saw and took the full force of the light they saw earlier. He was knocked several feet back and was slammed against the wall behind him. His vision began to go dark and his body felt numb. He couldn't move at all. His last sight was Josh looking over him, his worried friend looked terrefied, and then suddenly all went black.

This was the day that Central City would remember for days, months, and years to come. The day the Particle Accelerator went haywire and exploded. Many know this day as the day the Flash was born, Central City's Crimson Comet. This was also the day that changed Jason's life forever.


	3. Dedication and Discovery

The consistent sound of beeping is what woke him up at first. He was awake but couldn't move yet, like he was still too sleepy to get up. Slowly he gained more aware of his surroundings and was able to move. His eyes were now open and he moved his arm to rub his eyes. But it was stuck, something was tugging at him. His eyes were open now, it was clear as day. He was in the hospital, there was an IV drip in his arm. He could see his father sleeping in the chair next to him. As he sat himself up, His father awoke.

"Jason, Son. How are you feeling boy?" His father began pouring some water in a glass, and helped his son drink.

Jason slowly gained more and more strength in his body and moved himself more up, now fully sitting. He was about to ask his father a question although realized the answer before hand. He was at a Hospital that much was clear to him.

"Pops." His father leaned him, listening to Jason. "Why? Why am I here? Why am I at a hospital?"

His father leaned back in the chair, drank from his own cup of coffee and with a look of dread on his face. He told Jason of what happened over the last six and a half months. The Particle Accelerator went off, however something happened. It exploded and shocked the city, killing hundreds. Jason learnt how he had apparently taken the raw brute force of the explosion and flew back, falling into a comma. His father told him of his shattered femur, fractured ribs and elbow, and laceration on his chest. He slowly ran his hand through his hair feeling for the first time his thick knotty hair much longer than he had remembered. As he tried to get out of the bed, his father stopped him. His legs would be too weak to support his body. It just hit Jason then, it wasn't just six months that he missed in his coma, he would have to dedicate another large number of months for his recovery. He thought to himself and his father could see the strain going on his mind. This explosion caused him to miss a huge deal of his life, his father was worried his son would never be the same. However, that's when Jason's father saw that strain in Jason's eyes was no force of unrelenting fear and failure, but a determined look of passion and dedication. Jason smiled, and his father knew that even with the difficulty that lied ahead, this would not set his son back.

"Alright pops." He spoke with the volume of a calm breeze, but with the determination of a hurricane. "When do I start."

Jason awoke on a couch, his mouth tasting of booze, vomit, and pizza. He looked for his phone, and saw the date, immediately sparking memories in his brain of last night. New Years at Josh's he thought to himself with a grin. He stood up; perhaps it was the hangover, maybe it was spirit of New Years and how it had been just about five months since waking up but he felt strongly nostalgic and became happy. His rehab was over, and not only that he found a passion in boxing. He had been acting healthy, and even managed to catch up a little in his school. However, what had really gotten him to be better himself was The Flash. Central City's new hero had just made himself known a few months ago but his ripples have affected the people of the city more than just stopping crime. He felt a patriotism for the city and was excited about making good positive change.

"I Swear to god, if nobody passes me the Bong in the next minute. I'm going to puke!" Jason spoke loudly, waking his fellow sleepers. He wasn't ready for every positive change yet though. Luckily a bong made its way to him and he took a few rips. The nausea feeling in his gut and the blaring headache jack hammering his brain slowly disappeared as a nice feeling took over his body with each exhale.

Josh made his way downstairs. "The Man of the hour!" he spoke loudly toward his friend. "When you woke from the coma, the doctors said you'd be barely walking by January. Look at you now, waking up on the couch and doing beer sprints last night. Still ready to smoke from Ol' Faithful the next day." Josh looked proud of his friend, and found it difficult to keep back his excitement of seeing his friend.

The morning went well as bacon and eggs were made for all those who crashed at Josh's house. A delicious meal for the champions of New Years. Although two of their friends puked up the breakfast, in the end everyone was fed and slowly made their way back to their homes. Jason gave his friend a good hug and told him that he'd be back for the Spring semester. Jason opened the door and felt a chill rise up in him, and with a smile he began his trek to his father's place.

Suddenly however, a loud screeching distracted him as he saw a car moving very fast drift onto his side of the street and begin zooming down the road. The car's velocity was increasing and it was clear that the driver lost control of the vehicle, the back tires sliding back and forth from side to side. Jason thought quickly, however not quick enough as the car's back finally gave in and shifted its turning until the car began spinning. With only an instinct left he tried to dive out of the way pushing his hand out in front of him. He was waiting for the impact and all of a sudden he heard the sound of twisting metal and glass breaking along with a small push against him. He slowly opened his eyes expecting to be dead or in shock however what he was looking at brought a huge wave of confusion, excitement, fear, and joy. His vision was clear, the car's hood had crashed into Jason yet he was fine. There was a large indent in the hood, where Jason had been. He slowly extended the arm that he pushed in front of him only to realize that it was stuck. He tugged and tugged trying to free his hand, and as he put his foot on the car for leverage, it popped out like a jar finally opening. Jason was flat on his ass looking in awe at his hand. No scratch, no nail's busted, no bruising, nothing was wrong. His hand was fine. In hindsight he really should've figured out what was going on before, but it just took him several minutes to figure it out. Jason was a meta.


	4. Survival through Fear

As Jason lied in bed that night he couldn't help but replay the incident over and over. He had arrived home and kept an honest face to his dad. Nobody needs to know about this, at least not yet; he thought to himself. His mind kept replaying the event, and he couldn't wrap his mind about it. Meta-human was just a new term he learn't about, it was what people who gained abilities were called. I did take a huge hit of that energy he thought to himself. He looked at his side and saw the clock display two am. He already knew it, he wasn't falling asleep tonight. Not with something this huge. He walked to his desk and turned on the light, put his hand out in the light, still nothing wrong. He looked at his phone and saw the pictures of the wreck, he didn't dream it that much he knew. He grabbed a pen and pushed it against his skin.

"Ahh, Fuck!" he whispered in anger to himself as drops of blood began pattering down his hand. Does this mean I'm not a meta? He was confused, but he wanted to know more. He put on some jeans and grabbed a hoodie. He quietly went downstairs, opened his front door and closed it without alerting his dad. He walked down the lit street, cars empty and houses dark. He saw a parked car, an old 97' Honda Accord. He went up to, looked at the hood, and thought to himself. He touched the hood softly moving his hands across it. He knocked on it, and it seemed very solid. Like a car was supposed to be. He began thinking about the accident, this time on purpose. What he was about to do seemed stupid and crazy, even to himself. Each moment he was questioning himself, but this feeling in his gut shouted louder than his conscious. He began picturing the car swerving down the street again. He regained that fear, that worrisome aching feeling that tells you this might be it and this might be the end. His could feel his body acting strange, he was remembering an incident that should have killed him and his body started acting like it. Then another feeling rose, the same feeling that forced him to dive out of the way of that car, the same feeling that stuck his hand out in front of him, it was the same feeling he felt on the night the accelerator exploded; that will to survive. His hand still on the 97' Honda, and his body could feel it, that initial response to save itself, and that's when it happened. He felt his arm tighten, his hand up to his elbow felt as though it was becoming smaller but it wasn't changing size. It just feel tight and strong. He could feel it traveling to his arm and affecting the whole thing. The gut instinct shot out again and immediately, Jason rose his arm and with as much force as he could muster; he let his hand down onto the hood of the car. His arm sank into the metal, and that familiar sound of twisting steel came back to him, and he saw the car just get wrecked. The front window's glass shattered as the back tires rose from the force. The entire hood of the car in pieces. The car's alarm was blaring.

With a smile on his face, Jason began sprinting away from the car. He zoomed past his house which felt like it was going by in a blur. He kept running fast until he couldn't hear the car alarm anymore. When he finally slowed down he was gasping for air, laughing and coughing. He was a meta. Was there much to learn? Of course he told himself, but he was ecstatic at the idea that he had abilities. He recognized his surroundings and realized Josh was near by. Josh was smart, he rambled to himself. He walked the block and a half and made his way to his friend's home. He knocked on the door several times. Barely able to contain his glee, Josh finally opened the door.

"Jason?" He asked rhetorically asked. "What the Hell man? Its fucking three thirty!"

"Really?" Jason asked with a playful charm and just walked in. "Where's the bong, I'm too excited to tell you anything at the moment, I need to calm down." He spoke with the excitement of a child on christmas already knowing that he got what he wanted from dear St. Nick.

Josh handed Jason a packed bong, he took a rip most fowl and fell back in the couch with a little red in his eyes and a smile on his face. He sat back up and prepared Josh for the burden of his secret.

"Josh. What I'm about to tell you will change everything. If you don't want to know, if you want everything to stay the same. Then I will keep my mouth shut, but if you want our lives to change for something incredible, prepare yourself for our ticket to adventure." Jason spoke his rehearsed lines. He didn't know much about the situation but he knew that it was going to change, but he wanted Josh the whole way.

"Okay. I'm ready, what's the big news?" Josh spoke tiredly but interested.

"Josh…" Jason paused, and held his idea.

"You're not fucking Ryan Seacrest and I'm tired as fuck so no dramatic pauses! Kay?" Josh's irritability was increasing.

Jason laughed to himself a bit. "Okay, Josh. I just discovered it today. I am a Metahuman."

Josh's face turned straight. He wasn't sure if Jason was joking or if this was actually something huge. Jason saw his face of doubt.

"Ahhhh! Proof is what you require dear boy right?" Jason now just gleaming with happiness that he couldn't hold back his sarcasm and sense of showmanship. Jason led his friend to the backyard where a brick chimney fireplace that the previous residents had set up was in the back acquiring dust. Jason took a moment to regain those feelings that he had, now this time instead of focusing on the fear he focused on the will to survive. That tightening heavy feeling in his hand came back. The feeling spreading to the wrist and making its way up the elbow. Just before Josh was about to comment on the wait time there was an explosion of dust and the sound of broken ceramics filled the air. As Josh's vision grew clearer he saw his friend near the fireplace and rubble, but also saw his hand through a dense part of it. Jason had destroyed a brick fireplace with ease.

Josh was standing in awe. "Jason? Where's the bong? I think i'm going to need to take a rip of that too."


End file.
